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Beginning this Friday, the House Appropriations Labor, Health & Human Services Subcommittee will begin hearings on its fiscal year 2010 spending bill.
President Obama has called for a return to science-based initiatives and to end federal funding for abstinence-only education programs.

But abortion rights advocates say theyâre uncertain that Congress will go along with the President. Specifically, speakers on a conference call organized by RH Reality Check said it was time to stop federal funding for crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs.

Katherine Spillar is the Executive Vice-President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. Spillar says such facilities practice a form of bait and switch, by luring women and sometimes men by promising âcomprehensive counseling for pregnant womenâ.

Bill Smith is Vice President for Public Policy for SIECUS, which stands for Sexual Information and Education Council of the United States. He said that in fiscal year 2007, his group found that 56 different pregnancy centers in 32 states received more than $14 million dollars in taxpayer-funded dollars.

He said there are some states where this is a clear intent for the federal Abstinence Only to Marriage dollars to fund such centers.

James Waggoner is the head of the group Advocates for Youth. He called out leading Congressional Democrats, saying theyâve been all talk and no action when it comes to stopping the funding of crises pregnancy centers. Waggoner also called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not following thru on her previous call to stop funding such programs.